JAPAN: Hypersonic Missiles & more – 21st May 2024

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 21st of May twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Wednesday the 15th, the US and Japan signed a deal to jointly work on a system that can stop hypersonic missiles in mid-air. These missiles can fly at five times the speed of sound and follow unpredictable paths, which makes it hard to detect or intercept them.

The two countries first thought of this deal in August last year. Japan will create the propulsion device that will intercept the missiles. They will start working on it in March twenty twenty-five and finish in the twenty thirties.

Given how neighboring countries like Russia, China, and North Korea are all working to improve their missile technology, Japan's Defense Ministry hopes this deal helps them to find new and better ways to stop missiles.

The US is helping Japan inspect its defenses, as well. Rahm Emanuel, a US Ambassador, visited Okinawa Prefecture last week. On Friday the 17th, he went to Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island, and said that since the island was only sixty-eight miles away from Taiwan, it would become an important strategic area if China decided to attack Taiwan.

He also visited a local fishery cooperative where fishers said in August twenty twenty-two that they couldn’t fish for a week because China was running ballistic missile drills. Emanuel criticized China, saying that even though it’s currently banning Japanese seafood imports, it has boats fishing near Japan.

That same ambassador also got some letters from both the Governor of Nagasaki Prefecture and the mayor of Nagasaki City, criticizing the US’s subcritical nuclear tests that took place on Tuesday the 14th in Nevada, the US. It was the third test under the administration of President Joe Biden, who plans to conduct even more nuclear tests.

Both the governor and mayor said such tests would make the global nuclear arms race worse. They said that the US should stop all nuclear weapons tests because they disregard atomic bomb survivors and others who advocate for peace.

On that note, a Japanese parliamentary group advocating for peace attended the inauguration ceremony of Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s new president, on Monday the 20th. The parliamentary group regularly supports exchanges between Taiwan and Japan. Lai said that both countries have worked a lot together in natural disaster response and disease control and have grown a friendship through such hardships.

The Chinese Ambassador was not happy about the Japanese group attending the ceremony and said that publicly supporting what he called “Taiwan independence separatists” sent the wrong message.

Speaking of China, Honda Motors said it's cutting back its Chinese production because car sales have been falling in recent years. In twenty twenty-three, the company sold just over a million cars in China, which was thirty percent fewer than in twenty twenty.

Honda started asking its Chinese workers to retire, and already 1,700 people, about fourteen percent of its workforce, volunteered to retire. The company isn't pulling out of China entirely but plans to focus on electric vehicles instead.

Nissan Motors has also changed its focus in China, while Mitsubishi Motors decided to pull out of the country entirely.

As some businesses leave China, others want to invest in Japan. On Monday the 20th, the Carlyle Group, a US investment fund, offered around 860 million dollars to take over KFC Holdings Japan, which operates KFC restaurants in the country.

The Mitsubishi Corporation has over thirty-five percent of KFC Japan shares, making it the largest shareholder, and it said it would sell its stake to the US fund. The Carlyle Group plans to buy up all the shares to have complete control over KFC Japan. KFC Japan’s higher-ups believe the deal will make it easier for the chain to open more stores and update its menu more often since they won’t have to consult shareholders for every decision.

In domestic news, the Diet enacted a new bill on Friday the 17th that will allow divorced couples to have joint custody of their children. This will replace the current system where only one parent could hold custody.

The new law requires parents to discuss joint or sole custody post-divorce. If they can't agree, a family court will decide.

Even though the draft law passed, some lawmakers pointed out flaws in the bill or had concerns about the court's power to impose joint custody without the parents’ agreement. The government hopes to refine the new system before it officially goes into effect in twenty twenty-six.

The Diet also passed a change to the Road Traffic Act. Starting in twenty twenty-six, courts will use a new system that can give harsher punishments to cyclists aged sixteen and older who break traffic laws.

The new blue ticket system can impose fines ranging from 5,000 to 12,000 yen, or thirty-two to seventy-seven dollars, similar to cars and motorcycles. The system includes fines for 113 violations and will target dangerous behaviors like ignoring traffic and stop signs, and using mobile phones while riding.

Another change is that courts can now punish drunk bike riders with up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen, or 3,200 dollars.

In tech news, a new type of aircraft nicknamed a flying car took off for the first time in Tokyo on Friday the 17th. It lifted off from a parking lot at the Tokyo Big Sight Convention Center in Koto Ward, hovering around thirty-eight feet up and circling while people took photos and videos.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government organized the event to show off advanced technologies for the city's future. A US company developed the single-person aircraft. It is fifteen feet (or 4.6 meters) wide, eight feet (or 2.4 meters) tall, can fly up to sixty-two miles or 100 kilometers per hour, and stay in the air for around fifteen minutes. They will keep having flight demonstrations until Thursday the 23rd at the same location.

Flying cars aren’t the only new tech on the table. The Japanese government plans to promote software-defined vehicles or SDVs, where software, rather than hardware, will control the car. The government drafted a goal for domestic car makers to take up thirty percent of the global SDV market by twenty thirty.

The big advantage of SDVs is that companies can offer remote software updates and customization to help make driving easier and safer. They can even make the vehicle last longer. The government will work with domestic car makers to create advanced computer chips and software and develop self-driving trucks and taxis.

On a more lighthearted note, on Monday the 20th, the Cannes Film Festival, one of the biggest film competitions in the world, awarded Studio Ghibli the Palme d’Or, one of the highest awards in the film industry. The prize was to acknowledge the studio’s forty years of influential work in animation. It marked the first time the Cannes Film Festival awarded the Palme d'Or to an entire studio rather than a single movie.

Director Goro Miyazaki, the son of co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, and other representatives accepted the award. Goro Miyazaki said that the studio hoped to continue for another forty years. They then showed four short animations based on Hayao's original screenplays. Before this, those animations were only displayed at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo.

And to wrap up this edition, some sports news. Baseball star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit his thirteenth home run of the season on Friday the 17th, coinciding with the Los Angeles City Council's official proclamation of the 17th of May as Shohei Ohtani Day. The home run placed him at the top of the National League's home run tally.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Mata Ne!